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A writer has issued a lawsuit against bosses at the Showtime TV network alleging he came up with the initial idea for crime drama Ray Donovan. Brian Larsen is suing for damages, claiming he wrote the premise of a middle-aged man who kills for cash and pitched it to Showtime bosses in 2010 but was turned away.
He also claims several subsequent plot lines were based on his ideas, including the story of a basketball player caught up in a sex scandal.
In addition to compensation, Larsen is also demanding a halt in the production of the crime drama, according to TMZ.com.

American Hustle was a triple winner at the 71st Golden Globe Awards in Hollywood on Sunday night (12Jan14), picking up the Best Motion Picture trophy for Comedy or Drama among its haul. Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were also honoured for their roles in the acclaimed David O. Russell film.
The only other multiple film awards winner was Dallas Buyers Club, which brought Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto acting acclaim, but 12 Years a Slave was named Best Motion Picture (Drama).
Leonardo DiCaprio (Best Actor - Comedy or Musical), Michael Douglas (Best Actor - Mini-series or TV Movie), Bryan Cranston (Best Actor in a TV Series - Drama), and Cate Blanchett (Best Actress - Drama) were also among the night's big winners.
Meanwhile, Breaking Bad, Behind the Candelabra and comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine were double winners in the night's TV categories, claiming the Best TV Series (Drama), Best Mini-series or TV Movie and Best TV Series (Comedy), respectively.
The full list of winners is:
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Mini-series or TV Movie – Jacqueline Bisset (Dancing on the Edge)
Best Mini-series or TV Movie – Behind the Candelabra
Best Actress in a Mini-series or TV Movie – Elisabeth Moss (Top of the Lake)
Best Actor in a TV Series (Drama) – Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
Best TV Series (Drama) – Breaking Bad
Best Original Score in a Motion Picture – Alex Ebert (All is Lost)
Best Song in a Motion Picture – Ordinary Love by U2 & Brian Burton (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)
Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series, Mini-series or TV Movie – Jon Voight (Ray Donovan)
Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) – Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Best Actress in a TV Series (Drama) – Robin Wright (House of Cards)
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture – Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Screenplay – Spike Jonze (Her)
Best Actor in a TV Series (Comedy or Musical) – Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
Best Foreign Language Film – The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Actor in a Mini-series or TV Movie – Michael Douglas (Behind the Candelabra)
Best Animated Film – Frozen
Best Actress in a TV Series (Comedy) – Amy Poehler (Parks & Recreation)
Best Director – Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
Best TV Series (Comedy) – Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) – Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) – American Hustle
Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) - Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) - Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Motion Picture (Drama) - 12 Years a Slave
Cecil B. DeMille Award – Woody Allen

Irish pop star Brian Mcfadden has been cast in a new touring production of The War Of The Worlds musical. The former Westlife member will join Australian singer/actor Jason Donovan in Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, which is returning for a sixth and final trek of the U.K. and Ireland in 2014.
McFadden will perform The Sung Thoughts of The Journalist, a character played by Liam Neeson, who will appear as a 3D holograph as featured in previous runs of the hit show.
The singer says, "I've long been a fan of The War of The Worlds and am so excited to be involved in the tour. It's a true honour to be involved in this electrifying show and to be joining such an exciting cast, including singing the thoughts of The Journalist, who is played by one of my all-time Irish heroes, Liam Neeson... This will be a totally new experience for me which is both terrifying and exhilarating!"
Donovan will reprise his role as disturbed religious man Parson Nathaniel, while Les Miserables actress/singer Carrie Hope Fletcher has also signed up for the production, which is based on Jeff Wayne's 1978 concept album.
The new tour which will kick off in Dublin, Ireland next November (14).

How does one calculate the success of a director? Though not mutually exclusive, critical acclaim and box office returns are usually the measuring sticks when it comes to Hollywood filmmaking.
One film director who has become known for financial triumphs, but who has become a bit of a pariah with critics, is Michael Bay. His movies typify giant Hollywood blockbusters, but in terms of artistry and substance, he’s been found more-than-slightly lacking in a myriad of reviews over the years.
We are well aware of how most critics feel about Bay, whose latest Pain &amp; Gain arrives in theaters this week, as a filmmaker. But where does he stand with the theater-going public? His movies continue to make serious coin, so obviously he still has an audience, but we decided to poll both fans and detractors alike to better understand where Bay’s reputation stands.
There were those who were rather effusive with their love for Bay. “Michael is a genius,” says Chris Todd of Austin, Texas. “He has a understanding of visuals that few directors do, I really believe he's top tier on that regard.” Todd acknowledges that the location in which Bay’s films are seen makes a tremendous difference. “What makes him great is that he's one of the few guys left today who makes films for the big screen. He has no interest in the home experience really. It's all about the theater. And that's why his work loses a lot of power once it's viewed at home.”
His visual prowess also proved a major draw for fan Jenni Lee. “I love his panorama shots,” she says, “hands down the bomb scene from Pearl Harbor is one of the most gut wrenching scenes in history, not only because you know what happens when it hits, but because if the way it was shot. He also knows how to film explosions in an epic way.” Lee went on to note that his visuals prove to be the ultimate mitigating factor when considering his faults. “At the end of the day I will always go to a theater to see his movies and at least give it a shot because at a minimum I know I will at least get to see something that is visually stunning.”
However, even those who counted themselves Bay fans could not deny his shortcomings. Biostatistician Ryan Machtmes suggests that maximizing enjoyment of Bay’s work means clearly defining one’s expectations. “Truthfully, I watch his movies because they're just that: [movies],” he says. “No, I don't go to his movies expecting art, but sometimes a movie is just a movie, an escape into the fantastic and a way to just watch something and be entertained by it for purposes of relaxation and unplugging my otherwise always-on brain.”
Still others maintain that Bay’s appeal is a function of his time. “He came to power as the resurgence of the indie film crowd began to wane,” says fan Craig Dougherty. “After the minimalist early 90's that birthed [Steven] Soderbergh, [Kevin] Smith, [Richard] Linklater, and [Quentin] Tarantino, I think the general audience was itching to return to the big budget action genre.” Dougherty further argues that Bay doesn’t ever aim “to neglect emotion or substance, he [just] chooses to focus on delivering that message through high octane action rather than story and character development. He's the purest definition of a movie director currently working in Hollywood, and I can respect that moniker.”
But again, Bay has cultivated a legion of hecklers over the years who are just as vocal, if not moreso. “Michael Bay is the most frustrating filmmaker,” asserts Anthony Donovan Stokes, “because he has an endless amount of resources, and completely squanders them on aesthetics instead of actually storytelling.” Mikus Duncis adds, “he has a lot of untapped potential and indulges himself way too much.” Duncis also echoed oft-heard criticisms of both the length and poor comedy of Bay’s films. “His films are way too long and have an absurdly large amount of unfunny, offensive supporting characters and the story is always somehow muddled. If he could learn how to make a straight up 90-minute action films with a bare-bones minimal plot and no comic relief, I think he would be known for making great, fun and fast paced action.”
Some have argued that Bay’s offenses run even deeper, and that he is in fact a detriment to film. “I think Michael Bay's biggest crime as a filmmaker is that he perpetuates cynicism in numerous aspects of the movie-going experience,” contends Patrick Girts, “his films are very well made products, but they rarely respect the audiences watching them.” Most damning of all, Girts points out, is that “despite that lack of respect, [Bay’s movies] make money hand over fist. More studios are adopting this model, and quality storytelling pays the price.”
Surprisingly, no matter the side of the fence polled people happened to fall, many of them had ready-made associations locked and loaded.
“The man is like your cheesy bachelor uncle. He's loud, curses and drinks a lot, always has some new skeeze he calls a girlfriend with him, and is definitely not someone you want to hang out with long term, but he brings over all the cool fireworks on the 4th of July and let you have some of his beer one time so he's alright,” says Tony Rex Bowler, Houston.
“Michael Bay is like a student of the culinary arts,” says Jose Antonio Rivera of New York City. “He knows the ingredients, he knows the recipe, but when it comes to actually making the food, he pulls it out before it's fully cooked. He sprinkles his films with a dash of style to cover up the fact that it's undercooked and then proceeds to tell you how ‘good’ it is.”
Jordan Worth Cobb of Conway, Arkansas calls Bay “a painter,” but backhands him by suggesting that he “goes for what's easy and doesn't try.” Anthony Donovan Stokes, Manassas, Virginia is even less kind. “[Bay] is a ten-year-old boy in a fifty-year-old man’s body. A really dumb, impatient, perverted, hyperbolic, defensive 10 year old.”
Inversely, Ryan Timothy of Brace, Montreal compares Bay to his contemporaries and gives the Armageddondirector the advantage. “I know Zack Snyder has the image of a teenager with a camera, but Bay was, still and will probably always be that guy for me,’ Timothy says.
But for every fan, there’s a naysayer. “He seems to be a living example of what would happen if you gave a frat dude a very technical understanding of film and millions of dollars and told him to make a movie,” says Stephan Krosecz of Cypress, Texas. “The only difference is you'd find a lot more kegs of crappy beer, Gatorade, and Mountain Dew on set.”
It seems the relationship between Michael Bay and movie consumers is no less complicated now than it was when he first appeared on the scene in the mid-90s. Bay fan T.C. De Witt may have summed it up best when he said, “aficionados of film consider him a hack and a disease to the art of filmmaking, but he doesn't make art movies; he doesn't make intelligent movies. He makes the movies he loves with the stuff he loves. That passion, even if it's shallow to most, should be admired.” Further putting things in perspective, Angela Behm reminds us that “for all the hate [Bay] may garner, at least he's not Uwe Boll.”
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There are two things that are true about television: if something is a hit then everyone will try to copy it and everyone will hate CBS comedies even though everyone still watches them. But, since we're dealing with NBC's new soap musical (it's not classy enough to be an opera) Deception, we're going to have to talk about the first part. Yes, this is sort of a rip off of all other types of shows, but that doesn't mean it's not good. Quite the opposite in fact. Here's everything you need to know.
The Show in One Sentence: When a police officer's best friend dies suspiciously she has to lie to get back in good with the family to solve her murder. Duh, duh, DUUUUHHHHH!
Actors You'll Know: There are a lot of familiar faces. Megan Good, the star of the show, has been in tons of movies like The Love Guru, Think Like a Man, and Brick. Tate Donovan will be busy this awards season as a costar in Argo, and he just finished up several seasons on Damages after starring on The O.C. and Friends. Now he plays the dead girl's creepy brother who may or may not have raped and murdered his ex. Victor Garber was also in Argo as the Canadian ambassador, and trotted all over the globe on Alias. He has been in every movie and on every show. The only reason he's not an EGOT is because awards shows suck.
You'll Like It If: You're sick of Revenge.
5 Ways Deception Is Like Revenge: There's a sexy young woman who lies to get in good with a powerful family and take them down. She's in love with two men at once, one in the family and one an outsider. There are rich New Yorkers. She has a spunky sidekick helping her solve the crime. There's a bratty teen with a pill problem. It should only be one season long. Oops. That's six.
Top 5 Reasons You Might Want to Watch: Because you like Revenge. Because you like mysteries. Because you like almost seeing a hot guy's butt in the pilot. Because Tate Donovan, even when he's being creepy, is really kinda sexy. Because old drunk ladies who are really bitchy make for good TV. Because it's going to get cancelled anyway, so you might as well just see how long it lasts. Oops. That's six.
5 Reasons You Might NOT Want to Watch: Because you hate Revenge. Because you hate mysteries. Because you'd much rather be eating Craisins and dusting under your sofa than watching rich people in New York. Because Victor Garber and certain INXS songs give you nightmares. Oops. That's only four.
Love it, or Leave it?: Love it if you love Revenge, leave it if you want NBC to fail because they justifiably fired Dan Harmon.
Follow Brian Moylan on Twitter @BrianJMoylan
[Photo Credit: David Giesbrecht/NBC]
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It was the trickle of pee heard around the world. Cannes attendees were aghast and/or amused an infamous scene from The Paperboy that shows Nicole Kidman urinating on Zac Efron; this is apparently a great salve for jellyfish burns which were covering our Ken Doll-like protagonist. (In fact the term protagonist should be used very loosely for Efron's character Jack who is mostly acted upon than active throughout.)
Lurid! Sexy! Perverse! Trashy! Whether or not it's actually effective is overshadowed by all the hubbub that's attached itself to the movie for better or worse. In fact the movie is all of these things — but that's actually not a compliment. What could have become somethingmemorable is jaw-droppingly bad (when it's not hilarious). Director Lee Daniels uses a few different visual styles throughout from a stark black and white palette for a crime scene recreation at the beginning to a '70s porno aesthetic that oscillates between psychedelic and straight-up sweaty with an emphasis on Efron's tighty-whiteys. This only enhances the sloppiness of the script which uses lines like narrator/housekeeper/nanny Anita's (Macy Gray) "You ain't tired enough to be retired " to conjure up the down-home wisdom of the South. Despite Gray's musical talents she is not a good choice for a narrator or an actor for that matter. In a way — insofar as they're perhaps the only female characters given a chunk of screen time — her foil is Charlotte Bless Nicole Kidman's character. Anita is the mother figure who wears as we see in an early scene control-top pantyhose whereas Charlotte is all clam diggers and Barbie doll make-up. Or as Anita puts it "an oversexed Barbie doll."
The slapdash plot is that Jack's older brother Ward (Matthew McConaughey) comes back to town with his colleague Yardley (David Oyelowo) to investigate the case of a death row criminal named Hillary Van Wetter. Yardley is black and British which seems to confuse many of the people he meets in this backwoods town. Hillary (John Cusack) hidden under a mop of greasy black hair) is a slack-jawed yokel who could care less if he's going to be killed for a crime he might or might not have committed. He is way more interested in his bride-to-be Charlotte who has fallen in love with him through letters — this is her thing apparently writing letters and falling in love with inmates — and has rushed to help Ward and Yardley free her man. In the meantime we're subjected to at least one simulated sex scene that will haunt your dreams forever. Besides Hillary's shortcomings as a character that could rustle up any sort of empathy the case itself is so boring it begs the question why a respected journalist would be interested enough to pursue it.
The rest of the movie is filled with longing an attempt to place any the story in some sort of social context via class and race even more Zac Efron's underwear sexual violence alligator innards swamp people in comically ramshackle homes and a glimpse of one glistening McConaughey 'tock. Harmony Korine called and he wants his Gummo back.
It's probably tantalizing for this cast to take on "serious" "edgy" work by an Oscar-nominated director. Cusack ditched his boombox blasting "In Your Eyes" long ago and Efron's been trying to shed his squeaky clean image for so long that he finally dropped a condom on the red carpet for The Lorax so we'd know he's not smooth like a Ken doll despite how he was filmed by Daniels. On the other hand Nicole Kidman has been making interesting and varied career choices for years so it's confounding why she'd be interested in a one-dimensional character like Charlotte. McConaughey's on a roll and like the rest of the cast he's got plenty of interesting projects worth watching so this probably won't slow him down. Even Daniels is already shooting a new film The Butler as we can see from Oprah's dazzling Instagram feed. It's as if they all want to put The Paperboy behind them as soon as possible. It's hard to blame them.

Over the next few months, we’ll see new series soar, old series sour, and so much Jersey Shore madness, we’ll want to shower. Let’s face it: The Fall TV season is intimidating. With dozens of new and returning shows hitting our small screens, we know we have some big choices to make. So, to help you determine what to watch, we’re digging deep into the most notable series premiering this season. Where did each show leave off? Where is it headed? And who should you watch it with? Today, we're checking out a show that goes where no show has gone before. It's about New Jersey. And lawyers. It's Made in Jersey. Why aren't there more shows about New Jersey Lawyers.
Program:Made in Jersey
Premiere Date: Friday, September 28, at 9 PM on CBS
Tagline: Martina Garretti works at a Manhattan law firm with a bunch of stuffed shirts and uptight Manhattanites. But she has a secret weapon in winning her cases. New Jersey! She has her Italian family and all her street smarts that you just can't learn at Harvard. That will teach them!
Cast: Janet Montgomery plays our main lady Martina. Former Twin Peaks and Sex and the City star Kyle MacLachlin plays firm founder Donovan Stark. Megalyn Echikunwoke is her coworker Riley and Riv Brody is the firm's investigator Felix, who is like a male Kalinda from The Good Wife. Jessica Blank does her bit for New Jersey as Martina's sister Deb. It's all about work life balance.
Were they Made in Jersey?: Well, Montgomery was made in England, so that's a whole different accent to nail.
Other Shows About New Jersey: Jersey Shore, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Jerseylicious, The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, The Neighbors, Comic Book Men, Cake Boss, Bikini Barbershop.
Other Shows About Lawyers: I don't have time for all this.
Puns to Be Made with the Title: Maid in Jersey about cleaning houses in the Garden State. Made in Jersey, a documentary about dresses made from the fabric. Jersey Maids, a reality show about the girls who milk the cattle.
You Should Watch This If...: You like lawyer shows. You like Jersey shows. You have a tramp stamp. You have nothing to do on a Friday night better than watch a CBS procedural with a lot of accents that isn't Elementary on your DVR.
Where Is the Outrage: Just because the lead on this show went to law school doesn't mean she isn't worse for Italian-Americans from Jersey than Snooki, JWOWW, and The Situation.
Wine and Cheese Pairing: Franzia out of a box and Kraft American Singles.
What to Wear While Watching This: A Snuggie, because if you're at home watching this on a Friday night then you have given up on life, so you might as well be comfortable. And you thought I was going to say animal prints. What about an animal print Snuggie!
Follow Brian Moylan on Twitter @BrianJMoylan
[Photo Credit: AP Photo]
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Those well-versed in the films of Oliver Stone or perhaps a certain quirky hospital series that helped launched the age of the single-camera comedy might have noticed a familiar face popping up throughout this season of Burn Notice: that of John C. McGinley, the decorated film and television actor famous for playing Dr. Perry Cox on the NBC sitcom Scrubs. Throughout Burn Notice’s sixth season, McGinley has recurred as Tom Card, the nebulous former mentor to the show’s hero, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan). Thursday night will mark the broadcast of the USA series’ mid-season finale (McGinley will appear on more in the fall!) — and perhaps reveal a little more about his character's true intentions?
We got a chance to talk to the actor about his stint on Burn Notice, as well as a few other exciting projects he has on the horizon (including a Broadway appearance), his lasting appreciation for the gift that was Dr. Cox, and some of his own cinematic passions.
“I’d been a fan of Jeffrey [Donovan] for a long time,” McGinley explained, discussing his decision to take on a role on Burn Notice. “I’d seen the show off and on. And Gabrielle [Anwar] is a goddess. So, I just thought it was a bunch of good actors. And Matt Nix, he can write his tail off. I thought that was a good formula — and so it yielded huge dividends.”
As we quickly learned about McGinley, the quality of writing is his top priority when choosing a project. “I read it, and I thought it was really delicious. So I said, ‘Yeah. I’ll come down to Miami.’ Why not? … There’s that silly rule of thumb that you hear every actor talk about in every stinkin’ interview: if it’s not on the page, it’s a recipe for disaster. It’s the single truest thing in the history of the planet. If those words stink, then the [project] is going to stink.”
McGinley could tell from reading Tom Card that he was a character worth sinking his teeth into. “You don’t know if he’s coming or going as far as how he supports or subverts the protagonist for four of the five episodes. That’s fantastic. He’s not wearing a particular color in the story. You don’t know if he’s the man in black or the man in white, the bad guy or the good guy. So, to be able to straddle that tight of a tightrope is the stuff that actors dream of.”
There are several big screen projects that McGinley has in the works — each of which commanded his interest thanks to the quality of its script. First on the list is 42, the developing Jackie Robinson biopic written and directed by Brian Helgeland. “The script is very smart. It’s one year. It’s 1947. It’s the year baseball was integrated. It’s not Jackie Robinson from cradle to the grave. That’s too hard. You’ve got to do that with a book … This is one year in a man’s life that, in a lot of ways, changed our country.”
McGinley enthusiastically celebrates his chance to play radio sportscaster Red Barber in the film.
“He’s one of the top-of-the-food-chain, iconic radio voices of all time,” McGinley divulged. “I don’t say that in any way disparaging Vince Gully, because Vince Gully was an intern of his for five years. So, this is a guy who, along with Mel Allen, invented baseball on the radio. They co-invented it. They were the pioneers. And I got to do that. It was massive.”
However, this story reaches far beyond the confines of professional baseball. McGinley appreciates just how grand a story this film has in store — “As much of a sports story it is,” the actor said, “this is a civil rights story.” He continued: “This is a story about empowerment and courage. Branch Rickey, who Harrison Ford plays in this, was the guy who ran the Dodgers. What he did was breathtaking. In 1947, to bring a black guy into the big leagues? As you’ll see in the story, it was an uphill climb the whole way.”
Another highly anticipated film in McGinley’s future is the newest Alex Cross adaptation, featuring Tyler Perry and Ed Burns. While both of the leading men’s characters come straight from the texts of James Patterson, McGinley got the opportunity to create the character himself with the film’s writer and director Rob Cohen. “I played Ed Burns’ and Tyler Perry’s boss in the police force … It’s not in the book. So, [Cohen] invited me to come and create this guy. We got together and decided where this guy could fit into the story. That’s as exciting as anything any actor could ever do. When you get to create a character out of nothing? He doesn’t exist in the book. He doesn’t exist in the script. Rob knew he needed an instrument in there somewhere to push this information forward, or deliver this element of the story. He goes, ‘Do you want to be this guy?’ And I said, ‘Of course!’"
As far as his cast mates go, McGinley feels as though he hit the jackpot. “I’ve always thought Ed Burns was a profoundly underrated actor. He’s a great director, obviously. A great director/writer. But I think he’s a stunning actor, too … I was pretty pumped to see Ed. It’s so great when your perception of someone is eclipsed by how great they are in real life. That’s the effect Ed had on me. I thought he was a stunning person, and an equally extraordinary actor.” Although McGinley didn’t have as much of a chance to spend time with Perry off camera, he assured that he will be “marvelous” as Alex Cross.
Among this slew of dramatic new prospects, McGinley is also staying true to his gift of humor for the upcoming comedy film Get a Job. McGinley explained the theme of the picture: “It’s [about] the Gen-Xers who have lived at home with their parents. The angle the script takes is that these are the kids who all got trophies in soccer. And even if you were thrown out at first when you were playing little league baseball, you still got to stay on first. You were never out. You weren’t ever on a losing team.”
And how exactly do kids like this turn out as adults? “So, this kind of mollycoddling that generation was afforded or afflicted with by their parents has yielded kids — young people at twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty — who… who what? That’s what the picture is. Okay, what are you doing now? There are losers in soccer games. You are out at first.”
Once again, it all comes back to the writing: “The script was fantastic. I play one of their bosses. One of the guys gets a job on a trading floor. And talk about a shark pool. To come from that background to a stocks and bonds trading floor, where everybody would take a shiv and stick it in your esophagus just as soon as look at you. So, this one character, that’s his workplace conflict.”
A colorful stock trader, a shifty mentor (and possible villain), a sportscasting legend, and the head honcho on a homicide investigation — not to mention Dave Moss in the upcoming Broadway production of Glengarry Glen Ross, in which McGinley will star opposite Al Pacino (a role that McGinley called “a profound challenge”). Clearly, the actor has a lot of great characters on the way. But for many of us, he’ll always be associated with Percival Cox, M.D. And McGinley seems to have no problem with that.
“To get to play that guy for nine years,” McGinley explained, “is a gift … [I] did six films this year, and now I’m going to do a Broadway play. So, if I’ve been stigmatized as Dr. Cox, then give me more stigma.”
And it’s because of how tumultuously troubled Cox always was as a human being. “He was profoundly flawed, from being unquestionably an alcoholic, to being a divorced guy who moves in, moves out, moves back in with his ex-wife — then decides that they’re better divorced but living together — to sometimes using a jackhammer to teach, only because the stakes that they’re dealing with are so important, to being a great father but raging against being a mentor, to a guy who can’t stand human touch. These are all great things. And they’re so specific and meticulous.”
According to McGinley, this kind of human flaw is what makes for great character. “What helps writers, and ultimately, obviously, helps the actors — who should serve the words that the writer puts on the page — is if the character has damages. Because then the writers can cultivate and excavate, like a dentist going into a tooth. You go into those damages and write interesting stories for a prolonged period of time. So, Cox is so damaged that they got to write him for nine years, and he never became an exercise in redundancy.”
But there are aspects of Cox that make him triumphant. For one, his intelligence, as McGinley illustrated. “I surrendered to this early on: Dr. Cox, SAT- and IQ-wise, runs circles around me. That’s a horrible thing to say about yourself. I think the guy is super, super bright. And probably rebels against that, and tries to damage his intellect with booze.”
Even more importantly is the fact that, at the very core, Cox is a truly good person. “The great thing about Cox,” the actor said, “is that you knew he had a heart of gold. At the bottom of the ninth, bases jacked, two strikes, full count — who do you want? You want Cox. Who do you want as your doctor? You want Cox. So, working backwards from there, it gave him license to hammer those kids. The guy was so fundamentally sound, that he could take those liberties.”
McGinley got to talking about one of his most memorable episodes on Scrubs, which took place during an arc in which Cox spiraled into a crushing depression after inadvertently causing the deaths of several patients. “I didn’t talk in that episode until the last scene,” McGinley recalled. “People kept coming to the apartment. It was an exercise in listening, which is always really useful for actors to do. There’s a whole school in the Neighborhood Playhouse — Sandy Meisner and the Neighborhood Playhouse — all their focus is on listening. And the listening exercises that Sandy came up with always, always are the stuff of treasure and genius work for actors.”
One thing that fans of Perry Cox might look back upon fondly is the doctor’s signature nose-flick — a quirk that McGinley himself brought to the character. But where exactly did it come from? “I was lucky enough to become friends with Paul Newman during Fat Man and Little Boy,” McGinley explained. “When John Cusack and I were down in Mexico doing that film about the atomic bomb. So, I kind of was obsessed with Paul Newman. He was the best to me. One of his famous throws to Robert Redford in The Sting — “The coast is clear, everything is okay” — was that nose flick. So, it was kind of an homage to Paul.”
Talking about The Sting got the actor thinking back upon some of his other favorite films. Among them: Casablanca, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Godfather, and The Grey Fox. “A lot of people would argue with The Grey Fox,” McGinley admitted. “But I don’t care, because it rocks me. The storytelling is so clean, and it’s so gorgeous. And Richard Farnsworth, who I never met… he’s a reason to put a motion picture camera on a human face.”
And when you consider the common themes of this string of movies, McGinley’s favorite pick of 2012 might surprise you: The Odd Life of Timothy Green. The actor affirms that it is “the best film of the year,” divulging emphatically: “You have to be willing to suspend your disbelief, a la E.T.. If you can’t do that, then don’t go to the movie. These reviewers that have been uniformly unkind to it, I don’t know what film they were watching. If they think they were watching a true story about a little boy… it’s a love letter. It’s an enchanted love letter. If you watch E.T. and say that there are holes in the story because this alien lands, then don’t go to the movie! It drives me insane. You go see Timothy Green, and tell me if it doesn’t rock your world. I loved it. I loved every frame of it.”
While it might be a bit easier to pinpoint his favorite of other artists’ works, McGinley just can’t decide when it comes to his own line of films — specifically, his list of Oliver Stone movies. McGinley holds the distinction to be the only actor to have worked with director Stone in six features, and he cherishes each one of them. “They’re all pretty special. Going into the Philippines for six months and surrendering your life to [Platoon] was unbelievable. Doing Wall Street was special, because my father and Oliver’s father both worked, independent of each other, on Wall Street. Doing Talk Radio, I created the role in the play and did it for a year and a half, and then Oliver said, ‘Do you want to do the movie?’ Any Given Sunday, I got to meet Al and spend five months with Al.”
And although he was not involved with this year’s Savages, McGinley had nothing but high praise for the film. “I thought it was fantastic. I thought all the actors were great. I thought Benicio [del Toro] and John [Travolta] and Salma [Hayek] were just in top form.”
Three big pictures, one Broadway play, a television guest spot on the way, and a hell of a lot in the realm of film and television to his name already. McGinley is one of those rare actors that seems to crank out golden performances wherever he goes. Does he have a knack for picking terrific material, or is he just good enough to make anything worth watching (a skill he accredits to a limited populace, including the likes of Jim Carrey and Robin Williams)? Whichever you choose to believe, it’s hard to ignore the actor’s vast talent.
Catch McGinley in the season finale of Burn Notice on Thursday night at 9 PM.
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I have a confession to make. Actually two. OK, three. I have three confessions to make. 1. I haven't watched USA's summer spy drama Burn Notice in about three seasons. 2. I fell asleep while watching the season six premiere last night and had to watch the end of it this morning. 3. I find Jeffrey Donovan unbelievably attractive.
Now that you know all that, you know where I'm approaching this show from. Originally about CIA operative Michael Westen who gets "burned" and isn't allowed to leave Miami for suspicious reasons he hopes to untangle, Burn Notice started out as a fun and flirty show. It was about Michael trying to deal with his kooky mother, sarcastic partner, and crazy ex-girlfriend while readjusting to life outside the CIA and using his Bond-like skills to solve little mysteries every week for people around town. It was cute. It was a bunch of easily digestible episodes with a theme running through them. It was the perfect show for summer, where you could miss an episode or two or doze off in the middle and it didn't really matter.
Tuning in after six season, things have gotten considerably more complicated. Michael's girlfriend Fiona turned herself in after being framed for blowing up the British consolate and Michael was forced to work by some guy named Anson whose chief crime seems to be wearing a rather unfortuate mustache. There's also a bald CIA (FBI?) agent named Jesse who is running around saving Michael's mom (Sharon Gless, who is always holding a cigarette and never taking a drag) and a lady fed who is wearing Kohl's worst pantsuit.
There was no cute little case this week, no fun kvetching between Michael and his silly partner Sam, there was lots of running and standoffs and explosions. I do like explosions, but the rest seemed so upset. It's like when your stoner friend finally gets upset about something and you kind of freak out because you don't like all his nervous energy and he doesn't quite know how to channel it. Oh, and there's the voice over. Originally it was so Michael could explain his nifty spy tactics, now it's just an annoying incursion to move the plot along.
Yes, Burn Notice is still an enjoyable hour, but it's not what it used to be. It's a show that's gotten bogged down in its own mythology at the expense of the lightness that used to be what attracted so many people to it. Good thing Jeffrey Donovan is still so damn hot.
Follow Brian Moylan on Twitter @BrianJMoylan
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Burn Notice Premiere

Two high-profile series are heading to Showtime for premieres sometime in 2013: Masters of Sex and Ray Donovan.
Masters of Sex stars Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan as William Masters and Virginia Johnson, respectively — the real-life pioneers of the study of human sexuality whose research, lives, and relationship will be the focus of the show. It's based on the book Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, The Couple Who Taught America How to Love, by Thomas Maier. Oscar-nominated director John Madden has helmed the pilot episode. British actor Sheen got his start on the small screen before recently transitioning to more film work (with the exception of a 2010 arc on 30 Rock) while Caplan played a major guest role on the first season of Fox's hit show New Girl.
The other 12-episode-pickup recipient, Ray Donovan, is headlined by Liev Schreiber in the titular role as Los Angeles's "trouble shooter," a guy who solves the biggest problems of the city's most prominent residents ... and we're not talking computer problems. The ensemble cast includes Jon Voight, while Southland's Ann Biderman is the brains (and executive producer) behind the show.
[Image: DailyCeleb]
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